Finsbury Park pasta and proscuitto

I invented this quick, delicious spaghetti when we were living in our first London flat. It was a neat place (if you ignored the crack house two doors down, the overland train out the back windows and the bus route out the front) and we had lots of visitors. Now we live in a house in Wellington that’s probably three times as big, with neighbours who play classical guitar and invite us over for dinner, with trees and sky out the windows. We still get lots of visitors, though they don’t look as frightened when they appear at the door.

Spaghetti with roasted vegetables and proscuitto
This is a very vague recipe that can be altered to fit whatever vegetables you have lying around. In Finsbury Park I relied on whatever looked best at the 24-hour ‘Local English Mediterranean Superstore’ on Seven Sisters Rd, though I was careful not to buy any of the vegetables that had been sitting out in the traffic fumes all day.

Heat the oven to 220C. Put the onions, zucchini, garlic, peppers and beans/broccoli in a roasting dish and toss through the oil. Roast for 20 minutes, until they start to turn golden. Stir, then tip in the olives and tomatoes. Lay the proscuitto over the top. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the tomatoes are at bursting point and the proscuitto is crisp.
While this is happening, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, then toss through the roasted vegetables. Divide between four bowls and top each one with the shards of proscuitto, grated Parmesan and finely chopped parsley.

5 Comments

This sounds lovely and just the sort of thing that I'd love to eat any day of the week. Your post reminded me of the time I lived in Brixton for a while – especially the bit about the frightened look on visitors' faces. These days I tend to hide from visitors but I'm jealous of the neighbours with the guitars. I'm thinking of persuading my neighbours to take up a musical instrument – preferably not drums.

I did a complete double-take when I saw the title of your post. Finsbury Park? but a stone's throw from where I live! Beautiful photo too, gorgeous flavours – a lovely way to celebrate Finsbury Park's diversity!

Living in Kentish Town, I know the feeling though – local ne'er-do-wells recently shot out my dining room window with an air gun – narrowly missing a cake whose icing was drying out! Argh!

On a happier note, I love the fact that there are so many ethnic grocery shops for me to explore. I recently bought some Turkish pasta. On the back was a recipe with the instructions "first flutter your eggs"!!!